A look at the life and legacy of Frances Willard

Six states to honor Frances Willard

Born in New York, Frances Willard moved to Wisconsin with her family in 1846, establishing a farmstead near Janesville. Willard studied at a small schoolhouse built by her father before continuing her education at Milwaukee Female College. An early advocate of dress reform, she became an influential educator, lecturer, writer, and editor of a newspaper in Chicago. In the 1870s, Willard emerged as a national leader within the temperence movement. She was elected president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union in 1879. This series of articles looks at Willard's life, particularly her years in Wisconsin, as well as the efforts to preserve the school she attended in Janesville.